The U.S. Constitution contains a curious clause that, by the
ambiguity of its language, shows the embarrassment that the
Philadelphia Convention felt about the continuing importation of
slaves:1"The migration or importation of such persons as any of the
states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be
prohibited by the Congress prior to the year 1808, but a tax or duty
may be imposed on such importations, not exceeding 10 dollars for
each person."2 The word "slaves" would certainly have been more
straightforward in this clause--and more embarrassing.

But while Congress could not prohibit importation before 1808,
it did pass a number of measures before that date that regulated or
prohibited other aspects of the slave trade. In 1794, Congress
prohibited "carrying on the Slave Trade from the United States to
any foreign place or country" though the law was "loosely drawn

Foner, Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men, 75-76, 84-87, describes how
the early radical Republicans used the avoidance of the word "slave" in
the Constitution to argue that the Framers regarded slavery as a
temporary aberration, deserving of only the most limited protection.

U.S. Const., Art. I, § 9, cl. 1. Oddly, both the provisional and
permanent Confederacy Constitutions, Art. I, § 9, cl. 1 and 2,
prohibited the importation of slaves and free blacks; Du Bois, 188-189. Britain was the major naval power attempting to stop the international
slave trade at the time of the Civil War. The Confederacy's desire for
British assistance against the Union may be an explanation for this
clause.

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